DIY Animal Sweater

Hello everyone! It's officially sweater weather, and one of this fall's popular trends is the animal sweater. Many high end brands such as Burburry and Miu Miu have pioneered this trend, but they are most likely out of your price range. Today I'll show you how to make a cheap, yet just as adorable, animal sweater. 

1. Get a plain, inexpensive crew neck sweatshirt. I got mine on sale at Old Navy. 

2. Print out a picture of your favorite animal in the size you want. I just searched "cat silhouette" in google images and found the one I liked. 

3. Cut it out and pin onto the fabric of your choice (which, for me, was a solid black broadcloth). I ironed interfacing onto the back to prevent fraying. 

4. Cut out the animal following the outline of your stencil and pin to the front of your sweatshirt. 

5. Use a zigzag stich to sew on your animal. This was the most difficult step. If the zigzag is too hard, you can use a simple straight stich. 

6. I felt my sweatshirt was still a little plain, so I added some stretch lace to the armhole seams in the front. The stretch made it a little harder to sew on, but I just pinned the lace on and tried my best to prevent it from stretching too much. I used a straight stich using my machine. 

Voila! You now own an adorable animal sweater for a tenth of the cost, and you can brag about how you made it yourself. I've worn this sweater with denim jeans, maroon jeggings, and, today, a graphic print legging and it looks great everyway. 

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Xo

Back to School

Alas, the summer has come and gone, and it is time to go back to school. I've been procrastinating and putting off getting ready for as long as I could, but today, I finally got all my stuff together. 

Every year, instead of buying pre decorated journals, I buy plain journals and choose how to embellish them. For example, last year, I bought patterned duct tape to match each journal and put a strip down the side. This year, I bought some metallic sharpies and went crazy. 

Here's my Gatsby inspired AP US journal. All it took was a black journal, a gold sharpie, a ruler, and a lot of patience. I used The Great Gatsby movie poster as my inspiration and drew away. 

For this journal, I used a bronze colored sharpie and a coral (althought it looks bright pink) journal. This one makes me think of Sleeping Beauty for some reason. I guess it's because they're roses? 

This one is my favorite: giraffe love! I just looked up a picture of giraffes on google images and drew two of them facing each other.  Who doesn't love an adorable giraffe? Especially one that's kissing another giraffe. 

Good luck to everyone starting school tomorrow or anytime this week!